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Lore-masters master the healing arts in LotRO's newest dev diary
Riding in the wake of the previous Champion, Captain, and Burglar-focused dev diaries, Turbine is today treating players to a sneak-peek at what's to come for the mystical Lore-masters in the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard. Tim "Raskolnikov" Lang mentions that many Lore-masters were rather pleased with the recent Ost Dunhoth armor set's set bonuses, which boosted Lore-masters' healing abilities. In light of this, the team has decided to use this update to focus on improving the Lore-master's healing in order to allow the class to better fill the role of off-healer. In order to accomplish this goal, the team is consolidating a number of skills, such as the various Warding Knowledge abilities. Leechcraft, Tend the Sick, and Ancient Knowledge of Cures have also been consolidated into Knowledge of Cures, a single skill that performs all three functions. The Lore-master's trait lines got a once-over as well, particularly the The Keeper of Animals tree. For the full details on what awaits this unique and flexible class in Isengard, head on over to the official site for the full diary.
The Road to Mordor: Just around the bend
It's been a few months since the November Update in Lord of the Rings Online, and the natives are restless -- as usual. Some folks are despairing the long wait until Rise of Isengard while others are itching for more challenges to their currently level-capped characters. Then there are the players who are hopelessly lost in Moria and would give their eye teeth for a flashlight. Happily, a new update is just around the bend, code-named Echoes of the Dead. The actual name is Echoes of the Dead too, so I guess that's not such a great code. Over the past couple of weeks, we've started to get a feel for just how large this update is, and after reading through the Bullroarer test notes on Wednesday, I think we're in for a tsunami of a patch. Of course, these patch notes come in the middle of Turbine's carefully spaced dev diaries dealing with each major change or addition, which means that we're a little in the dark as to the specifics of half of this update. That's not going to stop me -- or any of you -- from analyzing, speculating and gesturing excitedly to no one in particular. So let's dig in to this hearty meal of mushrooms and patch notes to see just how deep LotRO's rabbit hole goes!
LotRO ramps up to Echoes of the Dead with new dev diaries
Speculation is on a head-on collision with fact, as Turbine has started to roll out information about the next Lord of the Rings Online update, titled "Echoes of the Dead." As players wonder whether the mysterious runes of a couple weeks ago indicate a new raid hub, or whether Echoes of the Dead is the name of the next book in the epic storyline, Turbine has at least shed light on class changes scheduled for this next update. Ken Burd caters to the thieves, er, treasure-hunters in the LotRO crowd with his Burglar dev diary. Several improvements and buffs for the class are in order, including additional stealth stances, bleed effects matching weapon damage types, beefier Fellowship Maneuvers, the ability to go faster in stealth, and a "Safe Fall" skill to safeguard against falling injuries (although Burglars can still be killed by falling too far). For the musically minded, Tim Lang has you covered with his Minstrel dev diary. Lang lists a huge amount of tweaks and fixes for the class, including shorter cooldowns for select skills, several new legacies, and an additional skill called "Anthem of the Third Age," which buffs either damage or healing, depending on whether you're in War Speech stance or not. Finally, in response to this past weekend's game and forum outages, Sapience announced that NA players will enjoy increased +5% XP gains from monster kills as well as token drops that can be exchanged for gift boxes from now through Sunday the 6th.
